Search Results (3,361)

The integration of 5G technology with cloud and edge computing is redefining the digital landscape by enabling ultra-fast connectivity, low-latency communication, and scalable solutions across diverse application domains. This paper investigates the synergistic impact of 5G on cloud-to-edge architectures, emphasizing its transformative role in revolutionizing sectors such as healthcare, smart cities, industrial automation, and autonomous systems. Key advancements in 5G—including Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency Communication (URLLC), and Massive Machine-Type Communications (mMTC)—are examined for their role in enabling real-time data processing, edge intelligence, and IoT scalability. In addition to conceptual analysis, the paper presents simulation-based evaluations comparing 5G cloud-to-edge systems with traditional 4G cloud models. Quantitative results demonstrate significant improvements in latency, energy efficiency, reliability, and AI prediction accuracy. The study also explores challenges in infrastructure deployment, cybersecurity, and latency management while highlighting the growing opportunities for innovation in AI-driven automation and immersive consumer technologies. Future research directions are outlined, focusing on energy-efficient designs, advanced security mechanisms, and equitable access to 5G infrastructure. Overall, this study offers comprehensive insights and performance benchmarks that will serve as a valuable resource for researchers and practitioners working to advance next-generation digital ecosystems. Full article

This study examines the feminization of poverty in Indonesia, focusing on the distinct vulnerabilities faced by female-headed households. Utilizing data from the 2023 National Socio-Economic Survey (SUSENAS) involving 291,231 households, this study applies a logistic regression model to investigate gender-specific determinants of household poverty. This research finds that education, digital literacy, financial inclusion, and the employment sector are significant factors influencing poverty status, with female-headed households facing disproportionately higher risks. These gaps are mainly attributed to systemic barriers in financial access, digital literacy gaps, and limited labor market opportunities for women. This study emphasizes the importance of implementing gender-responsive policy measures, including targeted education, enhanced digital literacy training, and inclusive financial programs. By presenting empirical evidence from Indonesia, this study contributes to the discourse on gender and poverty, offering actionable insights for the development of inclusive poverty alleviation strategies. Full article

Mental health conditions affect many young people in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), where stigma is high and access to care is limited. Digital tools accessible on basic mobile phones offer a scalable way to promote mental health, but evidence on their effectiveness in SSA is limited. This study evaluated the reach, feasibility, acceptability, and knowledge outcomes of Digital MindSKILLZ, an interactive voice response (IVR) mental health intervention implemented in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda, Uganda, and Zambia. Over seven months, 700,138 people called the platform, and 425,395 (61%) listened to at least one message. Of these users, 63.6% were under 25 and 68.3% were from rural areas. The three content branches—mental health information, mental health skills, and soccer quizzes—were accessed by 36.5%, 46.4%, and 50.9% of users, respectively. Among users who accessed the mental health branch of the intervention, the mean number of messages completed was 7.6 out of 18 messages. In a follow-up survey, 91% of users understood the content, 85% would recommend the intervention, and 38% found the mental health content most helpful. Average knowledge scores were 62%, with lower scores on common disorders and stigma. The intervention showed strong reach and acceptability, but content and implementation improvements are needed to boost engagement and retention. Full article

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are vital to economic growth, innovation, and job creation across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Women entrepreneurs are key contributors to this sector, yet they face persistent barriers to accessing finance, which constrain their business growth and broader economic participation. This study investigates the role of financial institutions in closing the financing gap for women-owned SMEs and assesses the effectiveness of various financing mechanisms, including traditional banking, micro-finance, fintech innovations, and government-backed credit schemes. Adopting a quantitative approach, this study utilises structured surveys with women SME owners across multiple SSA countries. Supplementary secondary data from sources such as the World Bank and national financial statistics provide additional context. Econometric modelling and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) are employed to identify key factors influencing loan accessibility, such as collateral requirements, interest rates, financial literacy, and the regulatory environment. Findings reveal that high collateral demands and interest rates remain major obstacles, particularly for smaller or informal women-led enterprises. Financial literacy emerges as a critical enabler of access to credit. While fintech solutions and digital lending platforms show promise in improving access, issues around infrastructure, regulation, and trust persist. Government-backed schemes also contribute positively but are hindered by implementation inefficiencies. This study offers practical recommendations, including the need for harmonised regional credit reporting systems, gender-responsive policy frameworks, and targeted financial education. Strengthening digital infrastructure and regulatory support across SSA is essential to build inclusive, sustainable financial ecosystems that empower women entrepreneurs and drive regional development. Full article

The concept of governance has gained increasing attention across various fields of study. However, its application within the specific context of educational policies, particularly within compulsory public education, remains fragmented and underexplored. To answer the questions “How is governance conceptualized in the context of the compulsory public education system?” and “What contributions to future research emerge from this review?”, 32 peer-reviewed articles published in open-access journals between 2019 and 2023 were extracted from the Web of Science, Scopus, and ERIC databases and selected following PRISMA guidelines. Results from this systematic literature review analysis suggest a sustained yet moderate interest in the field, as evidenced by the reviewed publications, different theoretical and conceptual approaches, and research themes that illustrate different aspects of educational systems. Research gaps include the lack of a consolidated and integrated theoretical–conceptual framework on educational governance; the under-representation of specific actors, contexts, and points of view about how educational policies intentions are interpreted and enacted; insufficient critical analyses of, among others, educational leadership, digital transformation, and non-state actors’ influence in educational governance; and limited discussion of governance’s effects on educational justice, equity and quality. The main limitations relate to geographic, linguistic, and cultural biases of the analyzed studies, the exclusion of non-open-access articles, and the predominance of qualitative methodological approaches, which restrict generalizability. To address these challenges, future research should follow the adoption of interdisciplinary approaches, longitudinal and context-sensitive studies, and the use of mixed methodologies. These findings could contribute to a more informed discussion, avoiding reductionist interpretations and more open and critical perspectives on how educational governance transcends organizational and technical structures by incorporating political, ethical, and contextual dimensions that challenge the quality of educational systems. Full article

Non-nutritive sucking (NNS) is an instinctive behavior in newborns, consisting of two stages: sucking and expression. It plays a critical role in preparing the infant for oral feeding. In neonatal and pediatric units, NNS assessment is routinely performed to determine feeding readiness. However, these evaluations are often subjective and rely heavily on the clinician’s experience. While other medical devices that support the development of NNS skills exist, they are not specifically designed for the comprehensive assessment of NNS, and their high cost limits accessibility for many hospitals and tertiary care units globally. This paper presents the development and pilot testing of a low-cost, portable device and accompanying software for assessing NNS in newborns hospitalized in neonatal care units. Methods: The device uses force-sensitive resistors to capture expression pressure and a differential pressure sensor to measure NNS. Data were acquired through the analog–digital converter of a microcontroller and transmitted via Bluetooth for real-time graphical analysis. Pilot testing was conducted with six hospitalized preterm newborns, measuring intensity, number of bursts, and sucks per burst. Results demonstrated that the system reliably captures both stages of NNS. Significance: This device provides an affordable, portable solution to support clinical decision-making in clinical units, facilitating accurate, objective monitoring of feeding readiness and developmental progression. Full article

The growing complexity of financial markets, driven by globalization and digitalization, has increased the need for individuals to make informed financial decisions. In this context, financial education and personal finance have become crucial areas of study. This systematic review aimed to identify and analyze the existing scientific evidence on these topics, determine the countries contributing to the literature, and extract key conclusions and lessons. A comprehensive search was conducted across the Scopus, Scielo, and La Referencia databases using keywords in Spanish. The initial query yielded 97 documents, which were filtered using seven inclusion and exclusion criteria, resulting in a final sample of 19 relevant articles. The reviewed studies highlight that financial education is a key factor in promoting economic well-being, reducing over-indebtedness, supporting entrepreneurship, and enhancing social inclusion. The effectiveness of financial education depends on equitable access to information, the use of digital tools, tailored approaches for diverse populations, and systematic program evaluation. The findings suggest that collaborative efforts between governments, educational institutions, and the financial sector are necessary to develop inclusive and practical financial education strategies, particularly for vulnerable populations. Financial education must be approached as a continuous, adaptive process to effectively respond to evolving economic challenges. Full article

This study presents a systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis focused on female-led nanoenterprises in rural contexts, a marginal yet increasingly relevant category within enterprise research. Despite the growing attention to micro and small businesses, nanoenterprises—defined as unipersonal, informal, low-income productive units—remain underexplored and largely excluded from formal economic frameworks. Using the PRISMA 2020 guidelines with the 10-step B-SLR approach, 12 peer-reviewed articles were selected through a targeted search combining terms such as “nanoenterprise”, “women”, and “rural”. The analysis included citation counts, journal impact, country of origin, and thematic focus. Findings indicate conceptual and geographic fragmentation in existing research, with studies concentrated in Latin America, Asia, and Africa, and focused primarily on commerce, personal services, and subsistence agriculture. Gender emerges as a structural axis, as women face compounded barriers in digital access, credit, and formal recognition. The review reveals a lack of theoretical consolidation, comparative studies, and longitudinal research. This work contributes by articulating the distinct nature of nanoenterprises, proposing a research agenda, and highlighting their role in fostering economic inclusion, resilience, and empowerment among marginalized populations. The results call for inclusive public policies and scholarly frameworks that go beyond traditional models of entrepreneurship. Full article

Business financing involves supplying funds or capital to initiate, expand, or maintain a business. This study investigates entrepreneurial funding in South Africa, emphasizing microloans, venture capital, and gender-sensitive grants as tools to facilitate inclusive business growth. Using a qualitative desktop research methodology, this study relies on policy documents, institutional reports, and peer-reviewed studies to assess how these funding strategies tackle access barriers for marginalized populations, specifically women, youth, and rural entrepreneurs. Guided by Access to Finance Theory, Gender Finance Theory, and Innovation Ecosystems Theory, this study indicates that microloans offer immediate funding for informal businesses but show minimal long-term effects without additional assistance. Venture capital promotes rapid innovation, yet it is predominantly based in urban regions and unattainable for underrepresented populations. Grants that address gender issues foster equity but are obstructed by institutional fragmentation and insufficient scale. The results highlight the necessity for unified financing frameworks that merge financial and non-financial assistance, facilitating scalable and inclusive business ventures. Policy suggestions involve aligning public financing tools with the National Integrated Small Enterprise Development Masterplan, integrating gender-sensitive budgeting frameworks, and utilizing digital financial platforms to enhance access. Future studies should utilize mixed-methods or longitudinal approaches to assess the ongoing developmental effects of coordinated financing models within the South African setting. Full article

The vulnerability of older adults in rural mountainous regions presents a critical challenge for sustainable development, particularly in the context of smart city and digital town construction. In this study, we develop a comprehensive analytical framework and evaluation index to assess Vulnerability to Elderly Poverty (VEP) and adaptive capacity, with a focus on its integration with smart infrastructure and age-friendly rural built environment strategies. Using Shizhu County in Chongqing, China, as a case study, we explore spatial disparities in VEP and apply quantile regression to identify the driving factors of adaptability. Our findings indicate that subsidy-dependent, middle-aged, and empty-nest older adults are the most vulnerable groups, with limited capacity to adapt to changing environments. A geographically alternating “high–low–high–low” VEP pattern reflects uneven development in infrastructure, accessibility, and public service construction. These disparities highlight the need for targeted planning and building interventions in rural settings. The key factors influencing adaptability include individual attributes, intergenerational support, and macro-level conditions such as policy design and digital infrastructure deployment. The integration of aging-friendly building strategies, smart infrastructure, and digital tools significantly enhances older adults’ resilience and social inclusion. Based on our results, we propose four adaptation models for aging populations in rural areas, emphasizing the construction of inclusive digital infrastructure, aging-sensitive building design, and community-based support systems. Strategic recommendations include promoting digital literacy through built environment interventions, enhancing intergenerational living arrangements, and embedding elderly-responsive features into smart construction planning. This research offers new insights into construction management practices that support aging in place and poverty alleviation through inclusive and resilient built environments. Full article

Urban scene understanding for inclusive smart cities remains challenged by the scarcity of training data capturing people with mobility impairments. We propose SYNTHUA-DT, a novel methodological framework that integrates unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) photogrammetry, 3D digital twin modeling, and high-fidelity simulation in Unreal Engine to generate annotated synthetic datasets for urban accessibility applications. This framework produces photo-realistic images with automatic pixel-perfect segmentation labels, dramatically reducing the need for manual annotation. Focusing on the detection of individuals using mobility aids (e.g., wheelchairs) in complex urban environments, SYNTHUA-DT is designed as a generalized, replicable pipeline adaptable to different cities and scenarios. The novelty lies in combining real-city digital twins with procedurally placed virtual agents, enabling diverse viewpoints and scenarios that are impractical to capture in real life. The computational efficiency and scale of this synthetic data generation offer significant advantages over conventional datasets (such as Cityscapes or KITTI), which are limited in accessibility-related content and costly to annotate. A case study using a digital twin of Curitiba, Brazil, validates the framework’s real-world applicability: 22,412 labeled images were synthesized to train and evaluate vision models for mobility aids user detection. The results demonstrate improved recognition performance and robustness, highlighting SYNTHUA-DT’s potential to advance urban accessibility by providing abundant, bias-mitigating training data. This work paves the way for inclusive computer vision systems in smart cities through a rigorously engineered synthetic data pipeline. Full article

Ergonomic assessments for specialized vehicle cockpits are often costly, subjective, or fragmented. To address these issues, this study proposes and validates a quantifiable comprehensive evaluation method combining optical motion capture with simulation. The methodology uses motion capture to acquire accurate, dynamic operator posture data, which drives a digital human model in a virtual environment. A novel assessment framework then integrates the results from six ergonomic tools into a single, comprehensive score using a multi-criteria weighting model, overcoming the ‘information silo’ problem of traditional software. In a case study optimizing a flatbed transporter cockpit, the method guided a redesign that significantly improved the overall ergonomic score from 0.422 to 0.277. The effectiveness of the optimization was validated by a 40% increase in key control accessibility and a significant reduction in electromyography (EMG) signals in the neck, shoulder, and lumbar regions. This study provides an innovative, data-driven methodology for the objective design and evaluation of customized human–machine systems, demonstrating its utility in reducing physical strain and enhancing operator comfort, with broad applicability to other complex industrial environments. Full article

Background/Objectives: Young families experiencing high levels of psychosocial stress should be addressed at an early stage to counteract potential negative effects on the parents’ and child’s wellbeing. This became particularly relevant during the COVID-19 pandemic when especially families have been strained by restriction measures. Early Childhood Intervention services (ECI) can provide low-threshold support, to which access should be encouraged. Methods: The randomized controlled trial of the CoronabaBY study with N = 1384 participants focuses on the effects of a newly developed app-based intervention on the awareness and usage of ECI services by young families with infants and toddlers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany. The analysis compares knowledge and usage rates of an intervention group (IG) and a waitlist control group (WCG) at three survey stages (pre-test, post-test and follow-up). Results: There was a significant increase in awareness of ECI services from pre-test to post-test in both the IG (15.2%) and WCG (10.7%) (p < 0.001), but the difference between the two groups was not significant. In contrast, the usage rate of further ECI services at post-test was significantly higher in the IG (12.1%) compared to the WCG (8.2%) (V = 0.060, p = 0.012), especially in a subgroup of highly stressed parents. Conclusions: Digital applications show potential to improve access to ECI services and should be continuously developed and evaluated to appropriately address young families and their needs. Full article

Despite Greece’s historical and geographical significance in the Mediterranean, there is currently no national digital repository offering systematic access to Arabic chronicles, diplomatic letters, and travelogues from the eighth to sixteenth centuries. This absence critically impedes rigorous Arabological and Islamological research within Greek academia and restricts the educational landscape to predominantly Eurocentric perspectives. The Hellenic Digital Library of Arabic Historical Sources (HDB-AHS) is proposed as a pre-implementation targeted solution, presenting a trilingual (Greek–English–Arabic) digital platform designed to aggregate, preserve, and openly disseminate these vital sources. The article outlines a six-phase implementation plan combining IIIF, TEI-XML, FAIR for interoperability and reuse and CARE principles where community authority or sensitivity requires it, and open licensing with a robust rights–clearance framework for modern copyrights and sensitive materials. Beyond academic benefits, the project aspires to act as a meeting point of cultures, offering concrete tools for building bridges, combating intolerance, and fostering intercultural understanding. In a world that is rapidly changing, the creation of such an inclusive and responsibly curated digital resource is vital not only for advancing research but also for supporting dialogue and mutual respect across societies. The HDB-AHS provides a blueprint for similar initiatives in underrepresented fields. Full article

Source-based virtual reconstructions have become essential tools for communication and research in urban and architectural studies. While these reconstructions are often showcased through exhibition visualizations, the underlying knowledge is not always apparent or even documented. This raises concerns about their sustainability. Without transparent, publicly accessible documentation of the decision-making processes (known as paradata) that come with and support these digital reconstructions, there is a risk of losing both the knowledge embedded in them and their potential scientific value. To enhance transparency and allow for proper assessment and recognition of these reconstructions, thorough documentation and evaluation of the reconstruction processes are crucial. Although there are various approaches to documenting virtual reconstructions tailored to specific use cases, and while some focus on aspects like visualizing reliability, the overall process of documentation remains cumbersome and costly, making it an exception rather than the norm. Previous tools that claim to properly document virtual reconstructions either cover only part of the metadata and linked sources, are too complicated to use, or are no longer available. Currently, there is no universally accepted, straightforward, and easy-to-use workflow for this purpose. The IDOVIR project addresses this gap by offering a user-friendly, web-based platform designed specifically for documenting digital architectural reconstructions. We strive for achieving such a standardized workflow. To date, the platform has already been adopted by a large number of users, and many projects are publicly accessible. Full article